No time for love

s GZO Jones enters his third year of gracing our pages, it's probably wise to note that he still considers himself the missing link between the 1950s and 2003. That he's added a hit-counter to his Brazilian Web site (GZO Jones Town) must mean he still plans to do something someday soon. As we wait, why not ask a question? It's not a bad bet that at least he'll have something unusual to say.

Dear Dr. Jones,

You're always namedropping the Beats, but you never seem to have anything good to say about them. Is there any reason I might actually want to read them?

Signed,
Missing a Beat

Dear Missing,

There's some reason. I'm sure of it. Somewhere ...

Well, it's just like any other scene: There's always something. With our dearly departed Beats there was a freshness, though it was tempered by the Beat tendency to never shut up about the past. We also had a real keen blurring between art and life, though that went for naught once people saw how goofy most of us were.

Oh, and there's some great music associated with the movement, including Bob Dylan, Rage Against the Machine (and They Might Be Giants, believe it or not).

Sometimes I wonder if all the escapades and madcap hijinx of the '50s and '60s only existed for me to reminisce about in a column for the new millennium ... and never shut up about the past.

Since it looks like I'll be the last man standing, who's to tell me otherwise?

Which brings us to one of the easiest questions ever ...

Dear Dr. Jones,

Do you think the end of the world is nigh?

Signed,
Scared as hell

Dear Scared,

I hope not. The editors tell me I have a 72-question backlog here, and I'd hate to have that weighing me down at the pearly gates.

– Jones